Rainy days, cold and snowy days, too-hot days.  If you have kids, finding ways to keep them amused on such days that doesn't involve a slew of Barney videos or the Wii can be a bit challenging at times.  Why not take an indoor kind of day and turn it into an opportunity to have fun and learn a bit about money?  Here's an idea for a game that most kids will like and will also sneak in a bit of financial education to boot.

What You Need

With all the woes of the world right now, it’s important that we don’t forget to focus on the positives:  Spring is almost here!

Along with all the green grass that springing up around us, many of you may have noticed a couple new people to MomVesting community (commenters).  As a little welcome, I’m going to do my best to include all of our happy commenters in this week’s round-up. 

You've probably heard the saying "a penny saved is a penny earned." Makes, sense. A penny is a penny, right? It's actually not exactly true. In most cases a penny saved is actually better than a penny earned. “What?” you ask? Well, thanks to federal taxes, earning a penny typically leaves you with only a fraction of your hard-earned coinage, while saving a penny post-tax leaves you with an actual full, shiny, copper coin. In fact there are many benefits to saving versus earning, so let's take a look.

Taxes

While channel surfing the other night, I came across a program that featured people who regularly engaged in "extreme couponing."  I have to say, it was a bit fascinating to watch.  One such gentleman had a specific desk area all set with a paper cutter and two (that I could see, anyway) huge binders filled to bursting with coupons.  The show followed this same guy as he took his binders to the local supermarket where he went on to buy no less than 60 liquid hand soaps (because they were a mere thirty cents each with his coupons) and what had to be at least 100 toothbrushes (again, because the

Continuing on our journey through relationships and finance, we come to discussing spending habits and the willingness to cut back on unnecessary items. This can be one of the trickier subjects to discuss because you both work hard for your money, and you both deserve to treat yourselves.

I seemed to have checked out of life lately. I can drag myself to my computer, but then I just sit and look at the screen. Between estate attorneys and cattle, the only productive thing I’ve been able to accomplish in my office lately is changing my desktop background. So, what happened to me? I became complacent.

I defined my services, developed a stunning website (plus one), delved into the social networking scene, nabbed some fantastic clients, and then got a nail in my tire.

My mom really enjoys the televisions show "Leverage." Hedge fund managers on the other hand tend to enjoy the financial type of leverage. You've probably heard of terms like "Leveraged Buyouts" on TV, but most of us haven't really though about what leverage means in that context. So, when talking about finance, what is leverage and is it good?

Leveraging Things

Financial planning, as you all know quite well, is a life-long process.  From the minute we decide to buy that very first pack of gum or save the money to go towards something bigger and shinier down the road, we embark on the financial planning journey.  Even if we don’t write down an official plan, we’re making choices that will influence our financial future.

Recently, I shared my 401(k) investment knowledge journey, pointing out my mistakes and regrets in not asking for clarification. Talking to a financial advisor about my 401(k) choices could have put me on track to understanding investments much sooner, but a feeling that I should have known kept me from seeking help. My stock journey was somewhat similar, yet different. My story may help you in your own journey to stock ownership, so let’s take a look at my life in the market.

Fear of the Market

I am exceedingly glad parenting does not require a degree in spaceship engineering, especially when it comes to kids and finances.  With support from your spouse, extended family and good friends as well as the vastness that it is the world wide web, teaching kids about money and savings takes little more than the two C's: common sense and consistency.